Hair is the BBC news ...the presenters have got their stylists back
FOR the past 18 months, BBC news presenters have been coiffing their own hair after Covid restrictions kept their stylists out of their dressing rooms.
But to the stars’ delight, bosses at the Corporation are allowing the stylists back – at a cost of thousands of pounds a week to licencefee payers.
Even though viewers may have barely noticed the difference.
BBC Worldwide newsreader Karin Giannone revealed her joy at the stylists’ return in a tweet she shared with her 30,000 followers last week.
‘The return of hair styling down in BBC make-up after 18 months makes me a very happy presenter – no more DIY!’ she tweeted.
Other on-air talent such as Fiona Bruce and Sophie Raworth are also understood to be thrilled by the end of the hair and make-up hiatus, following decades of having a beauty team to prepare them.
After BBC bosses sent home nonessential staff amid the pandemic, presenters had the products they needed sent to their homes – and had to apply them themselves.
It meant the Corporation saved tens of thousands of pounds by not paying experts such as Lynne
Somerville, a hair and make-up artist from Surrey who revealed on social media that she did Ms Giannone’s hair. Top stylists such as Ms Somerville are thought to earn in excess of £250 per shift.
And most weekdays, there will be three stylists on hand to ensure the stars are made up properly.
As the nation was forced into lockdown at the end of March last year, Alex Jones, host of The One Show, revealed that her glam squad had been told not to come in.
She said: ‘We can’t have any makeup artists any more and it breaks my heart because after nearly a decade, our team of girls are very close friends and this is a gamechanger for them financially.
‘Plus I’m terrible at doing makeup but #thistooshallpass, we’ll be reunited soon and my face will be so grateful!’
News At Six presenter Sophie Raworth confessed that having to get herself ready for the cameras was a ‘steep learning curve’.
On ITV, newsreader Mary Nightingale joked about doing her own make-up.
She said: ‘For those of you worried I don’t look well – it’s probably because I’ve started doing my own make-up… I can’t really lecture viewers on social distancing if I’m having someone that close to me every day.’
The BBC declined to comment.